King Hippo first appeared on the 1987 Nintendo Entertainment System game Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! as the second competitor in the Major Circuit.

King Hippo also gained fame on the NBC Saturday morning cartoon Captain N: The Game Master, which ran 34 episodes from 1989 until 1991. In the cartoon, Hippo starred as one of Mother Brain's top henchmen. He appears with blue skin and was often paired in a comedic duo with Kid Icarus enemy Eggplant Wizard. He was voiced by Gary Chalk. King Hippo also appeared in the comic books based on the Captain N series, as a Hasbro Action Figure, as an Applause action figure, and in a Topps trading card series. He is often seen with a bandage on his stomach throughout all his appearances.

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In Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!, King Hippo is truly the most unique character of the World Video Boxing Association, as well as the only character who did not have a palette swap; however, it should be noted that his body type resembles Bear Hugger's from the arcade and SNES versions of Super Punch-Out!!. His defense is impenetrable until he opens his mouth. When his mouth is hit, Hippo reveals his one weakness: his overly large trunks start falling down, and he has to keep pulling them up whilst trying to fend off Little Mac's body blows. Uniquely, King Hippo has no opportunities to get stars and therefore can only be hit by regular punches. Once Little Mac floors King Hippo, he does not get up.

Attacks:

Jab: King Hippo raises one fist over his mouth before throwing a punch. Can be dodged or ducked, however, initiates no stun when dodged.

Open-Mouthed Overhead: King Hippo opens his mouth, shouts, raises his fist, and throws a more powerful punch. However, if Mac punches him in the mouth, he'll reveal his stomach, which can then be punched for a stun.

Hippo Rush: King Hippo jumps around the back of the arena before performing an Open-Mouthed Overhead, a Jab, and then another Open-Mouthed Overhead.

Open-Mouthed Rush: When Little Mac gets tired, King Hippo will laugh and then perform 3 Open-Mouthed Overheads. If Mac dodges the first two, he can counter the third.

In the Wii version, King Hippo's dialogue only consists of bellows akin to that of an actual hippopotamus, provided by Scott McFadyen. He also wears his crown when fighting. A similarity is that his shorts still fall down. He uses powerful jabs and a form of double hook, which must be ducked. This punch is similar to Bear Hugger's, except that Hippo's is weaker, and is called the Hippo Squeeze. His punches do massive damage, but when knocked down, he does not get up. It is shown that he lives on the island of Hippo Island, somewhere in the South Pacific. Although it's never stated, his title of "King" and the fact he wears a crown suggests he is the head of state of Hippo Island. King Hippo spends his days eating enormous quantities of food and then sleeps in a hammock. This is shown in the intro montage when King Hippo is shown eating as the sun changes position in the sky, then snoozing in his hammock when the sun has set. When punched, pineapples fly off of his face. When KOed, he falls out of the ring, making him one of the few characters that have a special KO animation every time they fall. You only need to knock him down once to defeat him, since he's too big to get back up. His underwear now has multiple small pictures of the Starman from the Mario series of games. Before challenging him for the Minor Circuit title, selecting King Hippo will make him speak with a foghorn-like noise while his crown flies in mid-air off his head. It is also worth noting that he wears the title belt on his shoulder. When King Hippo sees Mac before the fight, he looks at him in surprise and laughs, probably because he doesn't see Mac as much of a challenge. If you lose to him he will pound his stomach victoriously. This makes his pants fall down, which embarrasses him.

Duck or dodge Hippo's raise punch as soon as possible and when his mouth opens, hook him.

Instant KO Trick #1: If you counter his hippo hug with a jab to the stomach, he'll lose his crown, but also his temper (his health goes up to about more than half too). If you manage to intercept that move again he will go down. You can intercept this move in title defense, but it will result in a star instead of a knockout.

Instant KO Trick #2: When he does his overhead smash, dodge and star punch him when his mouth opens.

Attacks:

Duck 'n Raise Punch: Hippo will duck his head into the shelter of his arms to block any jabs. Then he will charge, raise his hand, growl, and punch. You can dodge this, or if you punch him when he raises his hand, he will be stunned long enough for 10 punches.

Raise Punch: Hippo will raise one of his hands up to his breast and punch. You can easily dodge this, or you can do a block followed by a hook for a star. Dodging will activate a stun long enough for six punches.

Hippo Squeeze: Hippo will growl and do an attack similar to a Bear Hug, in that it is a two-handed hook. Dodge to activate a stun long enough for 10 punches. If you counter with a hook right before the attack, he will get knocked back (and his crown will get knocked off), but if his crown is already off and you do the same thing, it'll result in an instant KO.

King Hippo returns as a challenger in Title Defense in World B. He sports a bigger crown (probably to stop it from being knocked off like in Contender Mode) and a manhole cover duct taped over his stomach to protect himself from body blows (his Title Defense bio shows him wandering around New York City, looking for different items to protect his belly, including a frying pan and a strainer). The only way to punch off his manhole cover is to punch away all the pieces of duct tape that keep the manhole cover from falling off. When his manhole cover is knocked off, it falls onto his foot, causing a slightly comical scene where it falls on his foot and he hops on his other foot before getting enraged. After the cover is knocked off, King Hippo opens his mouth less often. All of his Hippo Hugs gain a second hammer punch-like attack that must be dodged to the side. Attempting to jab him while his mouth is closed results in a quick jab to the face (unless Mac reaches 0 hearts when his jab is blocked). However, they can be dodged or ducked (but not blocked). In addition, any mouth-closed overhead smashes or delayed jabs can be countered with a hook, which gives Mac a star. If you lose to the TD version of him, he will stand back, and laugh evilly.

Star Opportunities:

When Hippo does his silent Duck 'n Raise Punch, hook him.

When Hippo raises his arm for the Silent Lunge, hook him at the side of his belly that is uncovered.

Right before Hippo does his Hippo Squeeze 'n Squash, hook him.

Instant KO Trick: After he does the Hippo Squeeze 'n Squash, almost immediately use any level Star Punch. The idea is you want to hit his face with the Star Punch while his mouth is open. You have only a 1-second window to do this: doing it too late will make him close his mouth; hitting him with a star punch in any situation other than this trick doesn't cause an OHKO.

Attacks:

Duck 'n Raise Punch: The same as the Contender Mode version. Sometimes Hippo will fake you out by doing a Silent Duck 'n Raise instead. Punch him when he raises his hand, and he will be stunned long enough for 6 punches. However, if you are quick enough to jab him before he grunts, you will get a 10 punch stun.

Silent Duck 'n Raise: Hippo does a Duck 'n Raise Punch without growling. Hook him while his hand is raised for a star.

Delayed Raise Punch: Hippo will put his hand in an uppercut position, growl, then Raise Punch. While his mouth is open, jab him 2 times in different directions to stun him for 6 punches.

Silent Delayed Raise: Hippo will do a Delayed Raise Punch without growling. Hook him when he starts the Raise Punch for a star.

Hippo Squeeze 'n Squash: A Hippo Hug with a double-handed smash afterward to make sure the player gets hit.

Raise Punch: Hippo will raise one of his hands up to his breast and punch. You can easily dodge this. Countering (though not recommended) will activate a stun long enough for six punches.

Infinite: Counter the Hippo Squeeze 'n Squash, and as soon as he jumps back to the middle of the mat, use the Star Punch to hit him (while scaring him), and he'll do the Hippo Squeeze 'n Squash again. Repeat the process for an infinite.

King Hippo appears in the cartoon as one of Mother Brain's men. He is frequently paired up with Eggplant Wizard from the Kid Icarus series. Much like Scratch and Grounder from Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog (another DIC cartoon series), Hippo and Eggplant are very comical and bumbling lackeys who often screw up their missions.

There are numerous differences that this King Hippo shares with his game counterpart. In Captain N: The Game Master, he has blue skin, yellow eyes, a smaller crown, burgundy shorts which closely resemble those worn by Title Defense Bald Bull and a tiny nose. He can also speak English, unlike his game counterpart, who didn't develop a language in Punch-Out!! Wii.

King Hippo makes an appearance in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as a spirit. In his spirit battle, he possesses the body of a King K. Rool puppet and the battle takes place in the Boxing Ring stage. The battle has the King K. Rool puppet giant and the battle format as a stamina battle. Upon beating the battle, the player will then have won King Hippo's spirit. King Hippo is a support spirit that strengthens the player's shield when equipped.

King Hippo loses his crown and temper when hit in the belly by Little Mac. A similar thing happens to Don Flamenco, who loses his toupee.

After losing his crown when KOed, he will still be wearing his crown when you see him in the Minor Circuit ring. The same thing happens in Title Defense: after you knock off the manhole and KO him, he will still wear the manhole after the fight in the ring. He might have picked them up.

Although his height and weight are a mystery, he is shorter than the 6 ft 6 in Soda Popinski and is seemingly heavier than the 440 pound Bear Hugger.

In the commercial for the Wii Version of Punch-Out!!, Little Mac said he lost his title to King Hippo in 1989.

In Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!, he is the only opponent to not have any star opportunities.

It is actually possible to win by decision in the Title Defense fight without breaking off the tape holding the manhole up; the jabs required to expose his stomach cause minimal damage, but if the player throws as many jabs and dodges as many punches as he or she can, Mac can win by decision.

During the special KO animation in Punch-Out!! Wii, you can hear a girl scream right when King Hippo falls, probably because the latter landed on or near her.

Strangely, the sound also plays in Practice Mode, even though there is no audience.

It is possible to lay multiple jabs in a row on King Hippo by throwing a jab, following with a hook, and then jabbing him repeatedly.

Doc Louis's tip that suggests Mac to "take the ol' hippo out to lunch" could be a reference to King Hippo's own line in Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! where he says "I feel like eating after I win. Let's go to lunch! Ha, Ha, Ha!"

In each game he's in, King Hippo has the biggest health bar out of all the fighters. However, he also can be beaten by just one knockdown.

King Hippo has multiple Starman items from the Super Mario Bros. series on his Boxers in Punch-Out!! (Wii), as can be seen when hit in the belly or in the entrance to Round 2 & above on Title Defense.

Despite being from a fictional country, he is still from the South Pacific where there is a massive obesity increase.

There is a Hippo Island in real life though it is located in Antarctica and is much smaller then the Hippo Island in Punch Out.

When he gets hit in the face during his first confrontation with Little Mac, it will instantly form a bandage on the cheek.

In the NES game, when a cheat is used to reduce the points required for split decision(this is impossible normally), if Mac wins, King Hippo will beat his chest and his pants will fall down, which is his victory animation.

In Title Defense of Punch-Out!! Wii, when the manhole cover is knocked off, he makes a sound that is more of an elephant's than a hippo's.